How's
this for a slogan: "Take it off... take it all off with Noxema
Medicated Shave." Remember the guy who shaved to the strip tease
music, while the lovely female model enticed us with the can? This
was one of the most effective ad campaigns of the Sixties.

"While speaking with a neighbor
about her adoption of a puppy (she named him Elskling? meaning "darling"
in Swedish) from the humane society around the corner - I discovered
that she was the Noxema girl in your commercial. Her first name is Gunilla
(hope the spelling's right). A tall good-looking woman probably in her
late fifties - she owns a multi-family home here on East 58th Street
in New York and spends her summers in Sweden....Hope you enjoy this
tidbit."

The Cheerios
Kid was introduced in the early-sixties and this is one of the first
spots featuring the cartoon character (that was only recently retired).

In
the early sixty second commercials, everything rhymed and the kid would
save the village from all sorts of natural disasters. When
he only had thirty seconds, he went
from saving
the entire community to rescuing just his girlfriend
Sue.

In the
politically correct Eighties, girlfriend
Sue didn't need rescuing - she would eat Cheerios along with
the kid and kick some major butt herself!

In the Sixties and Seventies, cereals were proud
of their sugary content, and many cereals featured the word sugar prominently
in the product name.

That
practice went out with the health conscious Eighties, the word sugar
was replaced by words like 'golden' or just dropped entirely. Not that
the sugar CONTENT dropped any, just the wording.

Today,
Sugar Frosted Flakes is known simply as Frosted Flakes and Tony the
Tiger is suing the Exxon Tiger for copyright infringement.

Tony
the Tiger has been a cereal pitchman since 1952, the Exxon tiger has
been around since '64. They peacefully co-existed for decades, but it's
a problem now because Exxon recently brought the tiger back - and they're
selling food in station convenient stores.

Choosy
Mothers Choose Jif(this
one's from 1977). The
counterwoman in this spot is Bibi Osterwald, a character actress of
some notoriety who worked with Imogene Coca in the 1950's and played
Sophie Steinberg, the Jewish mother in "Bridget Loves Bernie".

In the last decade there was a
variation of this slogan - "Moms Like You Choose Jif."

Ward had a much bigger budget for cereal commercial animation - for
his half-hour cartoon shows, production was handled in Mexico to save
money. With the Quaker Oats spots, animation could all be done in-house.

"Ajax
Laundry Detergent is stronger than dirt." These 60's spots featured
a white knight on a horse who would point his lance at people in the
park and their clothes would turn magically clean. Today, that might
have a dirty connotation. This
series of spots ran for almost the entire decade.

The
woman in this spot: celebrated actress Frances Sternhagen, a six time
Tony Award nominee who has won twice - for "The Good Doctor"
and "The Heiress".

Donde
esta el Frito Bandito? Hispanic groups said "no mas!" and forced Frito-Lay
to end one of it's most successful campaigns ever in 1970.

The
snack maker never really found another effective pitchman like the
Frito Bandito, a cartoon character created by the legendary Tex Avery.
This was one of the last commercials, featuring the Frito Bandito
on the moon.

The character had been toned down to try to quell the complaints,
he no longer went around stealing Fritos from everyone, he
was just scamming them. Mel Blanc provided the Bandito's voice.

The
Frito Bandito was unsuccessfully replaced by W.C.
Fritos (a cartoon take-off on film comedian W.C. Fields) for
a couple of years.

One
of the catchiest jingles ever written, along with strong visuals created
on a small budget, come together to create demand for a product so
simple it's hard to believe no one thought about it before the Sixties!
Watch out for Grandma, she's really a guy in old lady drag.

Wham-O
introduced a number of popular products in the Sixties - including
reviving the Hula Hoop as the 'Shoop
Shoop Hula Hoop'.

Why
advertise electricity? With brownouts happening last year in some states,
this probably wouldn't be a good idea today, but this snappy tune had
Sixties' audiences (and transformers) humming.

Why
don't you go and turn on the air conditioner right now...

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CRAZY
7-UP
COMMERCIALS:Can
you ever remember a time when 7-up WASN'T known as the Uncola? I doubt
it - here are the roots of that campaign from the Sixties.

A
hand in a box (ala Thing on the Addam's Family) works hard for
his Uncola refreshment.

In another memorable commercial (when the slogan was
'See the light of 7-up'), ahamburger
comes into a Men's Store to be fitted - and what's more fitting
than the Uncola? "We've got the same thing in a sugar free"
is the salesman's pitch.

Hey Billy,
Your piece on 7-UP commercials reminded me of a 7-UP ad that scared
the hell out of me when I was a kid. The ad showed a guy walking around
with a giant 7-UP bottle (a woman wearing a 7-UP bottle costume). In
the voiceover, he talked about their relationship and how much they
were in love.

The frightening
part was when the guy returned home one day and found the bottle sprawled
out on the floor, dead. I seem to recall him saying something in the
voiceover about "the other guys getting to his 7-UP." The scene was
really creepy and had a weird, implied gang rape vibe to it. The commercial
ended with the guy finding true love with a can of 7-UP. Very strange...

"How
about a nice Hawaiian Punch?" Remember the little guy who went around
promising liquid refreshment but instead delivered a sock on the jaw?

That
little animated character started out as the one being picked on,
but when the commercials were cut to thirty
seconds, he suddenly became the aggressor. There was no time
to show the little guy being pummeled, the justification for his outrageous
behavior.

Hawaiian
Punch was one of the first to extend their brand into new products when
they introduced
three new flavors around 1970,
Cap'n Crunch was another brand name pioneer that had long coattails.

If
it actually worked, it would have been the coolest product ever created:
you step on the kitchen floor and a plastic shield forms under your
shoes whisking you to wherever you want to go - like a see-through magic
carpet or a skateboard without those pesky wheels. I'm still waiting
for them to invent this one!

Looking
for a good name for your punk band? How about 'Jimmy's Black Heel
Marks."